The Ground Beneath Her Feet
by firstlaughintartarus
Summary: The realization would sometimes hit her like a javelin in the stomach, the fascinating realization that Percy belonged to her and no one else. And when it did wash over her, it left her feeling warm and loved and fuzzy.


Annabeth would often just sit and think of Percy. One minute she was concentrating on that cursed essay on Norwegian Politics she had to hand in the next day, and the next minute, she was sprawled on her bed, craving and think of her boyfriend. Percy had that affect on her; he could make her just wonder for hours at a time about how in the world she was his. The realization would sometimes hit her like a javelin in the stomach, the fascinating realization that Percy belonged to _her_ and no one else. And when it did wash over her, it left her feeling warm and loved and fuzzy.

She was so caught up in her life back when everything was confusing, hurtful and extremely dangerous, back when Kronos was still a threat, so caught up that she couldn't even understand what she wanted. Those heart wrenching days when one part of her brain was screaming _'Luke!' _ and the other part was screaming _'Percy!'._ But now she was sure of her choice, even when she woke up sobbing because Luke's voice was whispering her name again and again, all she needed to do was look into Percy's eyes and feel perfectly secure once more. A quick Iris-Message, a second of eye contact, and a profuse apology for waking him up in the middle of the night would solve everything. After these late night, five second Iris-Messages, Annabeth would fall back into her bed feeling safe and sound because she knew her bungee cord to Earth was just a call away. And that was all it took to make Annabeth fall asleep smiling.

There was also Percy himself, his voice, his face, his personality, his (gulp) body. The times when he made surprise visits to her dorm room or when she showed up at his apartment were some of the best times of her life, because they usually resulted in them making out heavily or just cuddling, talking softly and chuckling. They had accidentally fallen asleep more than once, and when Sally and Paul or one of the hall monitors in her boarding school would wake them up with surprised faces, they would blush and stutter over their words. Then it would be so awkwardly adorable between them after that. But the reason they would start kissing the first place because Percy would walk in with his fine self and make Annabeth go crazy. The second she would see his warm, bright smile, all reason would melt away to form one single thought: _oh my freaking gods._ And then when he'd hug her, the way he smelt was so_ Percy_ she nearly fainted every time.

It was beautiful, really, the way he made her feel. She always had the sensation that she was the luckiest person on the planet when Percy kissed her. It wasn't just the physical part of their relationship that Annabeth loved, though. Percy was, in a way, her connection to reality. She sometimes felt as if he was the only real thing in the world, and all she needed to do was take his hand and she'd be all right, and everything would be okay.

Ever since that first day, that strange day when the boy with the sea green eyes fainted at her feet after killing the Minotaur, she had felt some strong connection between the two of them. It might have been annoyance and spite at the beginning, but as Percy had said many times, they had gotten past the _strangle-each-other _phase. Annabeth remembered those memories like a childhood friend. She remembered all the anger, affection, confusion, happiness and annoyance she used to feel whenever Percy was around. She remembered how she stole glances at him during the titan war; he looked amazing when he was all sweaty and covered in monster slime. She recalled how she would carefully think of all her responses to his dumb comments, making sure she didn't give the slightest hint of her feelings, making sure she sounded perfectly nonchalant. It became extremely frustrating at times. She also clearly remembered the days when they had just started dating, when all they really needed to worry about was the occasional hellhound. They would go out to central park almost every other day, and just sit on a picnic blanket and talk. Percy would sometimes drive the two of them down to Montauk in Paul's Prius, and they'd play in the waves till sunset. After the Giant War was over though, their relationship became more intense, more powerful. They would sometimes just end up making out so forcefully that they'd both be out of breath and leaning into each other by the time they were done. They had successfully graduated high school, despite missing classes a lot due to monster attacks.

Now they were both nineteen, waiting to start their first year at NYU in the fall, and moving into their very own apartment in Manhattan. Annabeth's brain was whirring with all these thoughts as she lay on her soon to be bed, waiting for Percy to return from the grocery store. She heard the lock click open from the front door down the hall, and muffled footsteps.

"Annabeth?" Percy called.

Annabeth got off the bed and walked to his voice looking extremely casual in worn out sweat pants and one of Percy's t-shirts.

"Hey," she smiled when she saw him putting down the grocery bags on the kitchen counter.

"There you are," Percy smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. He leaned down and kissed her softly.

"Mm," She replied, a dreamy smile still on her face.

And when Percy swooped down again and kissed her passionately, the ground beneath her feet was very real.

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**AN: Sorry for the readers that viewed this story before I fixed it, something was wrong and all the format coding was showing, idk. It's better now (duh). Leave a review if you can!**


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